Kindred Group set to end eight-month Dutch exile with licence award
Stockholm-headquartered operator set to return to the Netherlands following the end of the country’s cooling off period in April
Kindred Group has been granted a licence to operate in the Netherlands by the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA).
The licence is the latest to be awarded following the KSA’s initial tranche of 10 doled out in October 2021 to operators including bet365, LiveScore and GGPoker.
Since then a further five operators have been awarded licences.
Kindred is one of a number of operators to be subject to the so-called ‘cooling off’ period, in which those operators who have been previously sanctioned for illegally operating in the Dutch market are barred from entering and operating there for a set period of two years and eight months. The cooling off period has led many to exit the Dutch market temporarily for fear of being sanctioned again and thus pushing back their potential go-live date in the market even further.
Kindred was fined €470,000 in August 2019 after the KSA found its Unibet brand had been offering online gambling to Dutch players from 11 August 2018 to 27 December 2018.
Other operators who have been subject to the cooling off period include Betsson Group and LeoVegas, which are potentially the next to receive Dutch licences.
Kindred’s flagship brand, Unibet is set to launch as Unibet.nl in the coming days with the firm confirming that it will host a capital markets day (CMD) on 14 September in London, in which its longer-term Dutch strategy is expected to be unveiled.
Kindred hailed the licence award, the group’s 20th licence as an “important step” in realising Kindred’s ambition of increasing its share of revenue from locally regulated markets.
Elaborating on this strategy, Kindred Group CEO Henrik Tjärnström said: “The Netherlands is a large and important European market and one that we look forward to operating in with a local licence.
“We have been advocating local licence schemes for the past decade and are thrilled that our newly awarded licence in the Netherlands will allow us to deepen and develop our involvement in the Dutch society, as well as actively contribute to a fair and sustainable gambling market,” he added.
In its Q1 2022 financial report, Kindred attributed a 24% year-on-year reduction in active customers to its temporary absence from the Dutch market, something which indirectly led to a 30% drop in its gross winnings revenue, an impact which should now be lessened by the commencement of operations in the Netherlands.
Lennart Kessels is the Kindred’s general manager in the Netherlands and will lead operations for the firm in the market.
He previously served as a business development manager for the company.
On the back of the news, Kindred Group shares were up over 8% at the time of writing at SEK103.80 (£8.46).